Fire at Dusk
by Lupa Altre
Summary: When you're an experiment for a bunch of sadistic psychopaths who have no goal other than find out what works and what doesn't, your life probably sucks. Unfortunately, this description fits one Sawada Tsunayoshi, a stunningly beautiful boy, a bit too well. Just when he finally escapes, he has to deal with a whole 'nother problem-school, and his massive, dysfunctional family. ALL27


_**This is written by Altre, not Lupa. I enjoy darker themes, torture, psychological damage, insanity, murder, nothing like my idiotic other personality, who insists on fluffy scenes everywhere. Carnal pleasure, raging, murderous possessiveness, furious jealousy, that is a romance. Though, Lupa says that since she lets me assist in her stories, I have to let her help in this one. So, looks there will be fluff after all. Remember, don't say I didn't warn you.**_

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR nor anything else mentioned outside of the plot and my OC's.**

**Warning - ALL27 harem (eventual), strong!Tsuna, smart!Tsuna, experiment!Tsuna, abused!Tsuna, trap!Tsuna, PTSD!Tsuna, slightly homicidal!Tsuna, Masochism, Sadism, Original flames, OCs.**

* * *

A thin boy lay on a metal table, shackles chafing his wrists and legs, straps binding him to the cold steel surface. Blank, almost lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling, seemingly unfeeling of the needle that had just been stabbed into him. If one looked closely, you might have seen a spark of resolve, buried underneath indifference. That spark though, was buried under waves of agony as his spine arched and mouth opened in a scream that never came.

As he jerked and shuddered and cried under waves of what felt like lava-coated glass burning him from the inside out, a woman, standing beside him, smiled, and, pulling a second needle from her sterile, white coat, her smile widened as his screams increased. Stabbing the sterile end into his flesh, she injected the second, and his twitching increased. This process was repeated with several more needles, and, after long minutes in a haze of pure pain, he went lax as it finally fell to tolerable levels. Still, the lady smiled, though looking closely, it was an insane smile of maniacal joy.

"Why?" After every experiment, he asked that question. It had become a tradition, of sorts. Everytime, he got the same answer.

"Because its fun! Testing various serums, seeing what reacts well and what reacts badly, watching the changes occur! You, are definitely the most fun, you know. You moronically protect the others, undergoing more and more experiments, despite the pain! I'm surprised you haven't died yet, with all the conflicting serums and abilities you have! I suspect you sky flame is behind that, which makes you the perfect experiment. We can test you over and over again, push you far beyond your limits, and you still don't die! It's fun, so fun!"

That was it. No grand purpose. No scheme to develop an army or super-charged soldiers. Nothing. All they wanted was to find out what they could do to a human without the body breaking down. There was no rhyme or reason. Some kids had animal features that they had tested to see if they could make real life demi-humans, or beastmen, depending on who you asked. Some had supernatural abilities, such as telekinesis, telepathy, empaths, or clairvoyant abilities. Others didn't look too different, but were physically enhanced. The final group were those who had enhanced mental capabilities. There were over 1,500 of them in all, of varying ages, looks, and personalities, but there was one thing that, if asked, they would all agree on.

Tsunayoshi Sawada, nicknamed Cielo by close friends of his, namely his lieutenants, was an angel in human form. Every single one of those 1,500, in the five years he had been here, had been saved by the stunningly beautiful boy at least once. Whether from an experiment, a training session, or a beating. He had taken the blows, replaced them, caused a distraction, and earned every single one of their respect. The entire group was like a family, a huge, dysfunctional, loving family, and Tsunayoshi Sawada was definitely the leader of this group. The scientists were referred to as coats, living victims as survivors, and experiments tests. Testing if they could live to tomorrow.

He had taken a test meant to go to one of the younger members, who had been messed with recently already, and wouldn't be able to handle anymore. The coats' wanted to find out if they could add multiple characteristics of multiple animals to one person. Since he wasn't dead yet, that meant it was a success. Now, they were simply waiting for it to finish taking. He could feel bones in his skull and spine changing, muscles morphing, skin shredding and regrowing. He had been injected with high-purity sun flames in order to keep him from bleeding to death, so his flesh would stretch and rip and tear, heal and do it all over again. He spent a few more hours on that table, and sometimes the pain would worsen again, though never as bad as the first few minutes. Of course, now it was simply changing his body structure, then, it had been destroying his very DNA, and restructuring it for his new form.

This was, oddly enough, the first animal test he had taken, even in all the years he'd been here. At least, the only one powerful enough to not be destroyed by her acidic blood, which was also thanks to the coats, that destroyed every foreign substance outside of her body, thus making her immune to disease (and blood tests).

It was then that the coat who was still standing near her began to talk about his newest experiment. For some reason, the scientists enjoyed gloating about what they've done, though it was useful for controlling their newfound abilities.

"We've injected several different strands of animal DNA in different areas of jour body. We've added a cat's flexibility, night vision, and instincts, a wolf's stamina, a raptor's day vision, rattlesnake's venom, and finally, the pinnacle of our animal experimentation, nine fox tails!"

"Why nine?"

"So glad you asked, dearie!" He winced at the endearment, the way it was said was… unsettling. "Each tail has an effect. One has sun flames, improving regeneration, another has storm, improving destruction of foreign antibodies, another has lighting that boosts its defense, and the last one simple increases your physical capabilities. The other five improve your ability to use "those" flames of yours. How exciting, now, we'll be able to push you even further." The last part was said in a husky purr that honestly scared her more than anything else.

_An S? She's definitely an S! _

Then again, he was an M, along with most still (mostly) sane survivors. If you can't learn to revel in the pain as much as possible, you'll break. That's all there is to it. At this point, even if they got out, that would never go away. It was an addiction, those who went to long without it began to suffer withdrawals, of a sort. To rectify this, they spent time in more… adult activities, when they didn't have a test. It was screwed up, and they knew it, but at the same time, they needed it. Not just to sate their maniacal desire to feel pain, but also, to feel comfort, pleasure, the knowledge that they are both still alive. If they tried to ignore it, their sanity and self-control, the reason they had let this happen in the first place, would snap, thus, they would never be able to wean themselves off the addiction.

Pain was their friend. Pain warned them when they went too far. Pain kept them from thinking themselves invincible. Pain told them they were still _alive_.

They wanted it, desired it, _needed it_, because it told them that they weren't beaten yet. They were still alive, and so were their fellows. They could touch, _feel_ it, revel in the pleasure and pain and knowing they could go on.

If they ever got out, people would probably be disgusted. They'd probably consider them demented, poor excuses for human beings, who went at it with anyone who agreed. They wouldn't understand how they needed it, craved it, how it helped them keep their sanity and _survive_.

They didn't care anyways. So long as they had each other. Thats how they had survived so far, after all.

A while later, he was unstrapped, and his shackles were attached to massive chains so he could be lead back to his cage (he was the highest priority, and thus was secured far more tightly than the others). First though, he was lead to a floor-length mirror in the halls. Looking in, his apathetic look changed to one of faint surprise, though it quickly returned to indifference. After all, if he was beautiful before, he was on a whole nother level now, so much that it was unnatural. He looked like some perfect, photoshopped-by-a-professional model. Animal ears appealed to a wide audience, after all.

Two tall, triangular fox ears stuck up on the sides of his head, the fur silky and soft, so white it probably would glow in the dark. They twitched, moving slightly to catch all the sounds around her. From the base of his spine, meanwhile, were nine fluffy, soft, pure white tails, each with a different colored tip. One was yellow, another red, then green, the next had no colored tip, while the center tail had three colors, orange at the bottom, purple in the middle, and black at the very end, (like the sky at dusk) while the next tail was silver-green-blue, then light blue with what looked like ice crystals, next was one that was half black, half white, with a faint glow reminiscent of the moon. The final one was void black, with red, blue, white, and yellow specks of light. They were fanned out behind him in a manner reminiscent of a peacock. Sighing a bit, he blinked again upon seeing razor sharp, elongated canines. His eyes that looked like his irises had been taken out, and replaced with a ruby, (crystal patterns and all) flashed in the light, colorless pupils traveling down to his fingers, where long, sharp nails (claws, really) rested where his normal, human ones once had.

However, he was quickly jerked along, on the path towards his cage. He was dragged into the room, in which everyone was fast asleep, and handed a chicken leg, an apple, and some water. They were well cared for, simply because if they died due to poor conditions, the coats wouldn't have as many research materials for tests. Thats all they were to them, after all. Research material.

He calmly ate the chicken, noting that his new canines made it easier to tear and rip at the meat. _I wonder how one of the coats would fare if I sank my teeth in them now._ He quickly stopped that train of thought, though, since resistance meant pain, without anything to show for it.

Curling up on a decent pile of blankets, it only took him a moment to realize his tails had a use. He could wrap them around himself in order to keep warm, so thats what he did. The silky fur brushed against her skin, and, comparing it to silk she had once touched, he concluded that it was similar to his hair in that it was far softer. Thus, he went to sleep, warm and cradled in silky fur.

* * *

The next morning (noon? night? who knows) he sighed, uncurling his tails from around himself and stretching, arching his back, and shirt riding up to reveal a thin, toned stomach which (to his great displeasure) only had a faint outline of muscle despite his overwhelming strength. Soft skin had a feminine curve to it, if you looked farther, it would reveal a thin, lean plane of muscle, that showed that he definitely worked out, but for some reason, he didn't get serious muscles from it. He didn't realize it but, rather than large, his muscles were ultra-dense, which made him stronger than normal humans many times over.

The movement caught the eye of several other survivors. He didn't notice as he worked out all the kinks in his muscles, but almost everyone was staring at the picture of perfection in front of their eyes. Silky tails and fox ears, flowing, spiky white hair, and eyes like a crimson gemstone, refracting the light in its crystal sectors (look up a ruby on google, identical to that, just with a colorless pupil in the middle). Truly a image filled with a man's dreams.

Too bad he was a trap. There would be many casualties in the future.

Despite the fact that they should have been used to this, faint blushes spread among them like wildfire. However, 6 of them quickly recovered, walking up to the cage door and opening it to let her out. The coats didn't care, so long as she was locked in every night.

The six who had recovered quickly, though a tinge of pink could still be seen, were essentially his pseudo-guardians. Each sky has several guardians that are essentially destined for them, and each guardian set has that same sky who is destined for them in return. At the moment though, he simply had the six strongest of each element as his self-proclaimed guardians until he found his true set. Instincts demanded that such a powerful unattached sky is either to be protected or destroyed, and thanks to their close relationship, it was protect. Unfortunately, their environment made this rather difficult, which drove them up the wall, leading to appalling quantities of cuddling, possessiveness, and… 'extracurricular activities' (the 18+ kind) whenever they had free time or needed to have a fix for their addiction.

Tsuna sighed happily under his breath, as he took in the pain from his recently shredded and regrown muscles, a shiver running down his spine at the delicious pain that coursed through him at the movement. He could still remember the first two years, before he realized that if he wanted to keep his sanity, he would have to learn to not just tolerate pain, but _adore_ it. He could remember, when he first began to succeed, the disgust at his own actions. He was over it now, had learned to love pain as he swore he would. He had introduced the idea to the others who were still sane, back before a few new testees were brought in (captured, sold, who knows, who cares?) and they had the same reaction. They hadn't known him, nor he them, thus, they didn't trust each other. However his bleeding heart wouldn't let him stay silent at the time, and thus, he had shared the information. They had scorned him at first, but eventually, even the strongest began to shatter. Some broke, and those who did, were quickly culled, as they were useless. The fear ignited by this spurred them to desperation, which led to following her example. From there, he gained their respect, and eventually, undying loyalty, though that took a while. He also had seniority, and was the most experienced. He may not have been the oldest, but he had been trapped in this little slice of hell for the longest of all of them. He was not one of the originals, he was _the _original.

He was the first ever to arrive. At the time, it was only him, the scientists, and pain. A month of almost endless torture passed, and another batch of children were brought in. They managed to last quite a while, and since he no longer had their undivided attention, he had time to recover. 5 more months, over half were dead, and another group was brought. This continued. At this point, five years later, every single person from the first year was dead, except for himself, thus, he had an entire year of seniority, and also had respect due to having survived the early experiments, where the scientists paid no attention to safety, and were flying blind in regards to what worked. The early sacrifices paved the way for the others, yet, somehow he survived, as the first, he should have died the soonest, yet somehow, he survived, literally through pure force of will. Thus, he became the leader in their little group of victims. He protected them when he knew they couldn't handle another experiment, and they did the same in return. This only increased upon hearing that it was due to his sky flames that harmonized the new additions to their bodies and genetics, which had kept their bodies from breaking down from stress of such extreme changes.

Finally, he turned and flashed his brightest smile at them, which had leveled up thanks to the massive charm boost which came from having fox ears and tails. Immediately upon the door to his cage swinging open, he leapt out and went for a full body tackle on Chihiro, his rain guardian. Grinning brightly as he tackled the considerably taller, cyan-haired boy with his thin, lean body. Despite his smile, he flung everything he had in the hopes that the extra centimeter he had reached would allow him to move the 195cm, golden-eyed tall boy with his 160cm tall, petite body. Yeah, it was hopeless, but he wouldn't give up! 9 tails waved behind him excitably, while his new, furry ears turned and twitched excitably at every sound. A smirk was all he got in return for his brave attempt.

"Ah, Cielo-kun~, still can't do it with pure weight, huh?" Chihiro said teasingly.

"You could have at least staggered, Chi-ame!"(nickname she uses, attaching element to the end of their name) he grumbled good-naturedly, a tiny pout finding its way onto his full lips, features of a cool-beauty making an abrupt change into an excited cute-type.

"Yes, yes, now hurry up and come over here." A cold voice sounding nearby had her turning to see a boy only a bit shorter than Chihiro, with similar features, and brilliant silver-grey curly hair, like a cloud. His cool voice didn't hide the warmth in his gaze as he looked at the albino boy. This was Tenma, their cloud, younger brother of Chihiro.

"Ah, Tenma-kuraudo, don't order your sempai around, ya?" He grumbled, even as he glided over to the other, before being pulled into the cloud's lap. A hairbrush appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and the thin bristles smoothed and neatened his silky locks. After removing all the tangles from the knee-length white waterfall, he quickly switched over to separating into multiple separate strands. As soon as that was done, he began braiding it, thin fingers nimbly changing the flowing strands into a tight braid. Soon enough, he had a long, thin braid that was only missing his bangs. A long triangular section of his bangs hung down, sweeping past his nose in between his eyes, and stopping just a bit before the end of his nose (Think of Giotto's bangs).Despite the braid, the top of his hair somehow managed to remain spiky and wild as always.

Once finished, four other boys came over to join the three. A tall one with dark grey hair that had brilliant crimson streaks, and eyed like a bloodstone, Taiga, who also happened to be bipolar, calm and serene until he came under pressure, at which point he truly proved his role as the storm. Another boy was even taller than Chihiro, with hair that looked like it was made of gold, and eyes to match. Akurai, a bad-tempered teen who loved nothing but fighting and his family. The third boy had neon-green hair with blue streaks, purple eyes, and glared furiously at anyone who so much as looked in their direction. Shi, their bad tempered lightning who was similar to their sun in which he only cared for two things, himself, and Tsuna. He would never move to help someone outside of these two, though he was willing to help his fellow guardians simply because Tsuna would be sad if the morons died. Finally, Tenshi, who was the twin brother of Tenma, and the energetic mist guardian. He showered everyone with brilliant smiles, however, he at the same time was what one would refer to as a yandere. Hair of light blonde, and beautiful crystal blue eyes truly fit his name. However, he had a ridiculous obsession with Tsuna, who he referred to as seishu, short for kyuseishu, which meant savior. He was both a S and a M, and loved inflicting pain on others, which wasn't really considered a bad thing in their entire community of M's. Anytime he saw Tsuna's blood, he lost control, and his blue eyes turned obsidian black, before he went on a rampage, indiscriminately killing everyone. Only Tsuna and his brother's could stop him, though sometimes they couldn't even do that, resorting to fighting him themselves until he overcame his bloodlust.

All in all, they were a terrifying, dysfunctional, wild, violent, and insane group. It was truly a heartwarming family.

Soon enough, they all sat in a circle, with Tsuna in the center. Expectant looks were directed at her, and she quickly launched into an explicit description of every single event that had taken place. One of the experiments had been eidetic memory, while another still was enhanced mental processing speeds. However, in order to gain something, you must lose something too. What had been taken from him, was simple. He was no longer able to feel guilt or regret. It was physically impossible for him. He had lost two important emotions forever, and he would never get them back. Was a perfect memory and incredible processing speed worth it?

No. Not at all.

Yet, he couldn't feel regret for that fact. Couldn't feel any regret at all…

A hand in front of her face snapped her out of her down spiraling thoughts. Blinking, he looked at the source-Chihiro, gentle, considerate, extremely violent Chihiro. He gave him a simple smile, no pity in it, just understanding. Tsuna returned it with a smile of his own. He wasn't the only one who had lost something, and there was nothing anyone could do about it, so there was no use looking back, he would continue to move forward, live each day to the fullest - even if those days were spent caged in an experimental facility filled with maniacal, sadistic scientists, and his sex-crazed, masochistic 'family'.

Apparently, he reached inner peace at just the right time, as the alarms went off in that moment. Immediately, all his shackles supercharged themselves with electricity, and began to shock him into oblivion. The reason for this feature, was that he had once frequently instigated breakout attempts, thus, they caged her, and added this feature so anytime the alarms were triggered, which happened the second he left the building, or destroyed anything, or was seen, heard, etc… anyways, when the alarms triggered, he was shocked enough that a normal person would have had their brain and internal organs fried within seconds. For her though, it was just pain. Soul-shattering, sanity destroying, massive waves of pain, as her cells were fried and regenerated instantly over and over again. He didn't even realize that she was flailing on the floor, screaming heartwrenching yells of pain, as blue lightning crackled along his flesh. Tears streamed down his face, and immediately evaporated upon conducting the lightning. Every member of his dysfunctional, slightly insane, 1,500+ family, crowded around the boy they looked up to as a brother, father, mother(though they wouldn't tell him that part), friend, and sometimes lover. He was the head of their screwed up group of the insanely smart, insanely strong, insanely odd, and sometime just insane, and official or not, they all acknowledged him as that. He was their leader, the one who held back the primal instincts unleashed by living like they had, the one to restrain them without caging them, their one and only sky.

Seeing him on the ground, clearly in pain, at first caused them to panic, but as he fell into unconsciousness, the shocks stopping since he was no longer awake, shock gave way to pure, unadulterated _rage_. Abilities began to awaken from their emotions, the earth trembled at the sudden pressure, gravity shied away, as things began to float and twist, the air lit in flames, and ice, and acid, eyes became slits and hair changed colors, nails became claws as sharp teeth were bared. Most terrifying of all, however, were the elements.

Tenma had gone still. So very, very still, his eyes shadowed by his bangs. Looking up, one would see that his pupil and sclera had disappeared, leaving nothing but blank, unmoving purple, glowing malevolently. A single corner of his mouth twitched up in a smile that leaked so much killing intent, a normal civilian would have died immediately. Clouds outside began to move, gathering at a ridiculous pace, twisting and swirling malevolently, seeming to have a almost purple hue. Taiga's eyes became slits, and a tail previously thought to be a belt uncoiled from its spot around his waist, grey striped with red, lashed behind him, and a strong wind knocked his hat off, revealing same-colored tiger ears. Bloodstone eyes became better described as bloody, turning to slits. Outside, the previously clear weather was suddenly covered in a massive storm, strong winds beginning to blow, whipping around, tearing up earth and trees, houses and cars, leaving terrible destruction in its wake. Beside him, Chihiro looked no different, unless you counted his wide, insane grin that was filled with teeth that, previously blunt and human, now were razor sharp, and like small, curved daggers. perfect to rip live meat right off the bone, to shred, to tear, to _consume_. He almost laughed in glee at the blood and flesh he would taste today, as he flexed his fingers, from which grew two-foot long, black, razor sharp nails, that could easily slice through muscle and bone. He giggled aloud at imagining ripping out their internal organs one by one while they were still alive, the musical sound of their screams of fear and terror, so amazingly delicious. Curled horns grew from his forehead, twisting back in a manner similar to a ram's horns. From the clouds, rain poured down in sheets, rather than rain, it was closer to a waterfall. The mangled landscape was flooded in seconds, and the water continued to rise up, drowning everyone nearby. It was as though a lake had suddenly sprung up around them.

Next there stood Shi, whose face had twisted into a snarl which made several of his allies flinch around him. Reaching into thin air, he retrieved a massive scythe, the blade twice as large as himself, made of pure, green, lightning. A pure white mask with no expression formed over his face, while shadows wrapped around him, becoming a tattered cloak. Outside, lightning began to rain from the sky, one bolt, two bolts, three, four, five, six, and soon, there were massive bolts striking the newly-minted and still growing lake, lighting the world up in a shower of sparks, thunder so loud it shook the very earth. Beside him stood Akurai, whose fist were now covered in flames the color of the sun, eyes replaced with pits that held a burning inferno, like two miniature suns trapped within. No, rather than covered, his fists _were_ flames the color of the sun. He wanted to feel the blood splatter across him, feel the metallic red liquid coat his skin, feel the bones crunch, the wet _squelch_ of organs being ripped from someones chest, the satisfaction at knowing the ones who did this to his sky were dead, and had died a slow, painful death. He wanted to taste the coppery liquid on his tongue, feel it slide down his throat and rest in his stomach, and as he grinned, baring three times as many canine teeth as normal, all three twice as large, perfect for piercing an artery, he licked his lips, unable to wait, he hadn't had fresh blood in months, having drank some from a bag all this time. Pain made it taste all the sweeter. Outside, a mountain split apart, and fiery lava oozed out, burning it's path of destruction for the world to remember for thousands of years.

Finally, there stood Tenshi. He was swaying from side to side, almost drunkenly, giggling under his breath. The sound could send chills down the backs of a demon. A massive claymore, burning with eternal flames, rest in the palm of his hands, and he held it effortlessly, as though it was light as a feather. Spread behind him, were massive, feathered wings, one was white as snow, while the other was so black an abyss would be envious. Even as he continued to sway and giggle, whisper under his breath promises of what he would do to those who hurt his _Cielo_, red started to drip down from the top, looking identical to blood running down. It continued to sluggishly drip, creating a pattern that held a demonic, terrible beauty to it wild, unrefined spirals and lines. As the pattern covered his wings, as though some demented artist had dipped his fingers into blood and wildly painted it across the feathers, his swaying abruptly stopped, and his head snapped up, revealing a smile the devil would show as he watched sinners being eternally tortured. Black eyes looked out, and despite his grin, showed nothing but emptiness. Outside, a mist so thick that you wouldn't be able to see so much as a shadow a centimeter into it, appeared out of nowhere and rolled across the land, every creature it covered flailed in panic, unable to breath in the heavy mist, slowly dying by drowning on dry land.

They were called the elements for a reason, you know. Each had a name related to themselves, a name they were called by the scientists. Shi, Shinigami. Akurai, Bright One. Chihiro, Demented Fool. Tenshi, Carnage Angel. Tenma, Bloodlust. Taiga, Rampage. Tsuna, Kiyu.

Then the door slammed open, and the world was dyed red.

* * *

As her pseudo-guardians went on a murderous rampage, Tsuna was having an out-of-body experience. As she wandered along, appearance as solid as ever, yet still unable to touch anything, she only had one thought.

'_Where the heck am I?!'_

Currently, she was walking around a massive building that she had inadvertently astral-projected herself into using her star flame. Whenever she didn't use this ability on her own, it meant that there was something that attracted her flames, causing them to send her here.

_The star flame - brilliant and ever present, not always seen, but ever present, lighting the path._

As he continued his wanderings, he felt a sudden powerful tug on his flames, and considering his current form, which was constructed of star flames in their spiritual resonation, he was pulled along easily. A few moments later, and he was dragged through the door, into a massive room which had multiple people sitting around a table, apparently making plans of some sort, though he didn't notice, as his flames released him and he collapsed onto the ground. He may have survived countless experiments through force of will, and gained the respect of over 1,500 overpowered, slightly insane brats, but he was still clumsy, unless he _needed_ to keep it together. Thus, he was laying on the floor, snarling under his breath various 'curses' ("Triple dipped fudge biscuits with sour M&amp;M's, why do these things happen to me?!"), and thus, didn't notice the meeting had gone silent. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared, since he _should_ have been invisible to everyone in this state. Unfortunately, he didn't count on a powerful illusionist with a connection to the dead, who was using his abilities to show everyone in the room just where he was and what he was doing.

They all had shocked looks on their faces, though its understandable. After all, who would have expected a stunningly beautiful nine-tailed fox girl(?) to suddenly phase through the door, fall on the ground, and begin grumbling about how unfair the entire situation was. After a few long, long moments, they got over their shock enough for one of them to get up and walk over to her(?), obviously choosing the illusionist who could see her, as it would make things simpler.

"Excuse me, miss, what are you doing here." He could barely keep the irritation in check at the current situation. Then, the girl(?) turned around, and he found himself looking into the most stunning rubies he had ever seen. However, when she(?) raised a single eyebrow at him, obviously confused, he snapped out of it, and glared at her in irritation, ignoring the weird feelings he had. Apparently, this was the confirmation she(?) needed that he could see her(?), thus, she opened her mouth to speak to him.

"I'm a boy."

The entire room stared at her in utter astonishment, their thoughts unified in that moment.

'_A trap, totally a trap!'_ It didn't really matter though, they were bi anyways, so it didn't pose a problem… and why were they even thinking of their sexual preferences now?

"Why are you here?" A new voice said snappishly, and the albino boy stared into the emerald eyes of a slender boy, about his age, with silver hair.

"Who knows? I was walking around, enjoying the relaxation after torture and a near death experience, when next thing I know, my flames are dragging me in here. It was quite annoying, I assure you." He said the entire thing nonchalantly, which made it difficult for the impact of his words to hit them, however, he was soon met by a room of shocked and slightly worried eyes, though he didn't understand why.

"Why?" someone blurted out, a japanese-looking boy, who was ridiculously tall, maybe even having a few inches on Chihiro.

"Why was I almost shocked to death. Who knows, the coats' have a rather sick sense of humor, what with getting their jollies from experimenting on kids and all, so I can't claim to know what goes on in the minds of those sadists. Don't worry though, I'm a hardcore masochist, so while it was pretty bad at the time, I got over it pretty quick. Though, I'm probably gonna have to go a round or six when I get back…" The last part was said under his breath, and even the ones who heard it didn't understand the context. Ah, innocence, where you know not the pleasure of getting turned on by pain. If they were lucky, they never would. He had gotten over the disgust and horror a while ago (when he lost the ability to regret) but to others, it was screwed up.

Once again, he had dropped a bunch of bombshells in an incredibly casual manner. '_Stop saying such ridiculous things like it's something completely average!'_ was the general consensus of thoughts. However, a sobering thought struck them then. Maybe to him, it was completely average.

"So, your an… experiment?" One of them asked cautiously, feeling as though he was treading on thin ground. After all, they had all been captured in an experimental facility for an entire year, and thus knew how hard it was.

"Yeah, Experiment: Original, Codename: Kiyu, Real Name: Sawada Tsunayoshi, first ever experiment of the first experimental facility constructed by RENEWED. Really messed up group, them, though I don't really have much room to talk. I've been an experiment since I was eleven, so I guess its been almost six years now, only a couple more months to go till the anniversary of the day my parents sold me." He stated, sounding rather cheerful about the entire thing, tails waving about behind her. However, they were stuck on the part where she mentioned that she had been dealing this for almost six years. Their hardships seemed tiny compared to what she must have gone through. As they thoughts this, they soon found themselves on the receiving end of a cold stare from ruby-colored eyes.

"Simply because I've been through more, doesn't mean that your hardships are any less. There isn't a ranking of who has it worse, if its bad, its bad, thats all there is to it." He stated, saying something moving without even realising it. They stared at him in astonishment, before he was bombarded with smiles, smirks, or nods of acknowledgement, depending on the person.

After a few moments of silence, with Tsuna beginning to fiddle with his star flames, turning them into different things in his boredom, the silence was finally broken by a question.

"We've been looking into breaking into that facility, but have almost no information. How about this, you help us find it, we break you out." Tsuna looked him over carefully, slowly standing and making his way over, at which point he began circling him, leaning close and inhaling deeply to catch his scent. Frowning, as his senses were considerably dulled as an Astral Projection, he leaned to the best vantage point, which happened to be the neck. He crawled onto the japanese tall kid's lap, leaning as close as he could to rest his nose on the hollow of his throat, inhaling deeply. As soon as he got what he needed, he happily hopped off the boys lap, only to realize said boy was immobilized, a look of shock on his face. Turning to the other, he found them all staring at him, some with odd, almost uncomfortable looks on their faces, but he chose to ignore the odd behavior.

"Why is he like that all of a sudden, did something happen?" He asked in confusion, receiving stares that now were more deadpan than anything else.

"What was that, may we ask?" A dangerous looking man said, and somehow, giving off the feeling that it definitely wasn't a question. Tsuna couldn't help thinking he had seen better, though it might've been the lack of that insane spark her tormentors usually possessed. He decided to tell them anyways though, since they were so interesting.

"I was investigating his scent, to see if he was trustworthy. Due to this non-physical form, my senses and abilities are considerably dulled, so I had to get the best spot, which was his neck. Really, he smells quite nice, like rain in the summer, its such an incredibly genuine scent that I ended up hovering a little longer than I meant to. To put it bluntly, its intoxicating, almost as addicting as pain." He explained, voice taking on an almost dreamy tone.

They all decided to begin the exchange, as tall guy had woken up from his daze. First though, they introduced themselves. Mukuro Rokudo, Hibari Kyoya, Ryohei Sasagawa (who oddly enough, refused to say anything more), Lambo Bovino, Gokudera Hayato, Chaos Reborn, Yamamoto Takeshi, Kozato Enma, and Fong. Upon completing the introductions, Tsuna gave them a considering look, before stating that, "I'll tell you guys, since I think you might just be able to assist us in escaping, after all, you all smell like the ones who've been through the harder experiments, so you might be able to do it. I'll entrust this information, and my expectations, to you."

Upon saying that, he immediately launched into an in-depth explanation of, well, everything. As they rapidly scribbled and typed notes, he told them about the experiments, the capabilities, the mentality, the lay-out, every single thing she could remember, which was a lot considering her perfect memory, he told them. It was hours later when he finally finished. He saw new looks of respect in their eyes upon realizing what he'd been through. Contrary to his expectations, instead of being disgusted by the pain-loving mentality they had been forced to adopt, they had been sympathetic, which increased his respect for them a fair bit. By the end, he had even managed to get Ryohei to open up a bit, and quickly realised he had experienced some sort of trauma, and thus, made sure not to push him.

As he finished, he began experiencing the feeling that came with returning to his body from this state, and knew his time was up. Turning to look at them, he grinned.

"Sayonara, boys." He said, chuckling, before a realization hit him and the smile was wiped off his face. "Crap! My elements, they've never seen my 'shock therapy version dangerous' before. Their overprotective thought process would probably mean they're on a murderous rampage. Tch, dang homicidal tendencies. By the way everybody, I get the feeling I moved through time a bit here so I'll warn you just in case." In the time he had left, he quickly listed his elements and their characteristics, and firmly emphasized the fact that they shouldn't get in their path, and **definitely** _don't wear white coats_! At this point, he couldn't hold on any longer, and returned to her body.

As pain wracked his body, he barely restrained a low moan of pleasure at the painful sensation. While it hurt in the process, the aftereffects were _magnificent, _at least, for a masochist.

Opening his eyes, he was met by over twice the number of eyes he had expected, and grinned at the sight of his elements, along with the people he had met and sort of befriended a few minutes ago, though it's been about a week for them.

Blinking at the smell of blood, death, and fear in the air, he considered it briefly before giving them a megawatt-smile, and saying, "So, what happened while I was out?" Ignoring the blood, organs, and unattached limbs that were decorating the area, she decided to ask them directly.

She got a few blank stares, though they soon turned to relieved expressions that she was relatively unharmed.

"Honestly, I still don't understand how you shake these things off the way you do."

"Obviously. There are just some things you aren't meant to know. I need my secrets too, you know."

* * *

_A beautiful flower of crimson and white, blooms in ground of bone, having been watered by blood._

* * *

**A/N - This is Altre. Thanks for reading. Please review. Bye.**

**-Kiyu - a play on words, essentially means "the sky is falling" (I relied on google, by the way)**

**-The words attached to the ends of the elements names are personal nicknames from Tsuna that depends on their element.**

**-Tenshi - angel**

**-Tenma - Demon**

**You want to know any other words, just look them up on google.**

**Sayonara,**

**-Altre (fyi, Lupa fell asleep)**


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